Here's Why John Woo's Live-Action Metroid Movie Never Got Made

Rumors of a "Metroid" movie have circulated in Hollywood for decades, but they never got closer to actually happening than the John Woo film first announced in 2004. At the time, Nintendo's sci-fi video game series was at the peak of its popularity. That height has sadly not been reached since by subsequent entries, though there has been a rising "Metroid" tide again in recent years with the critical and commercial success of 2021's "Metroid Dread" and excitement around the upcoming "Metroid Prime 4: Beyond."

In 2004, though, "Metroid" was one of the biggest names in gaming thanks entirely to 2001's "Metroid Prime." In an era when Nintendo was being overshadowed a bit by more adult-oriented games like "Grand Theft Auto III" and "Halo," "Prime" gave the company a massive critical hit. It was a technical marvel, highly sophisticated, and has often been thrown into the (somewhat bizarre) conversation around what might be the "Citizen Kane" of video games.

With "Metroid Prime 2: Echoes" on the way in 2004, fervor grew even more intense when it was announced that action movie pioneer John Woo himself would be handling the franchise's live-action, big-screen debut. The combination of Woo's penchant for stylish action and Metroid's high-concept sci-fi aesthetic seemed like a perfect match, and the film even had a promising screenwriter attached in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" alum David Greenwalt. That kind of pedigree seemed to put series protagonist and intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran in good hands, but the film fell apart a few years later due to creative stumbling blocks and a series of disagreements with Nintendo.

Video game movies weren't exactly gold mines back in 2004. They were already a kind of laughing stock in Hollywood, thanks in large part to Nintendo's own first foray into live-action adaptations with 1993's infamously disastrous "Super Mario Bros." The mess of that baffling movie haunted Nintendo for decades, and it made the company incredibly hesitant to relinquish creative control on similar projects later on.

"We are very fortunate that there is such an extensive amount of material to draw upon for the film due to there being so many iterations of the game over the years," Woo told The Hollywood Reporter in 2004. And yet, that preexisting material led to a series of creative disagreements and obstacles between the production team and Nintendo. In a 2012 interview with IGN, producer Brad Foxhoven explained that the fear of a second "Super Mario Bros." catastrophe hindered the project from the start. "The challenge for us was that it felt that the biggest lesson Nintendo learned from 'Mario' was to hold onto their rights even tighter, limiting collaboration when it came to translating 'Metroid' to the big screen," Foxhoven explained. "Our entire development time was spent exploring the 'Metroid' world, and what we could — and couldn't — do within it."

Obviously, that kind of extended back-and-forth doesn't often lead to a free-flowing creative process. "We knew that a lot of the 'Metroid' mythology had many similarities to other well-known science fiction franchises, so we had to try and propose some fresh ideas that Nintendo would approve," Foxhoven told IGN. In the end, a decisive middle ground was never reached, and the film was canceled in 2007.

The "Metroid" games are often sparse on direct storytelling, as Samus has typically been a silent protagonist (with a few infamous exceptions). However, they've always been incredibly rich in atmospheric, environmental storytelling, and Samus' backstory is perfectly suited to a big-screen adaptation. As a child, she grows up on a distant space colony that's raided and destroyed by Space Pirates, led by the massive dragon Ridley. Samus' parents are killed in the attack, but she's taken in and raised by the Chozo, a scientifically advanced spacefaring race of avian aliens. Years later, after service in the galactic Federation military, Samus dons Chozo power suit and strikes out on her own as a bounty hunter, leading to a series of battles against both the Space Pirates and the ravenous alien predators known as Metroids, which themselves were created through Chozo genetic experiments.

There's tons of material there ripe for adaptation, and from what Brad Foxhoven told IGN back in 2012, it sounds like the film would have focused a lot on Samus' past. However, Nintendo's hesitations made that a tricky subject as well. "Things started to go south when we tried to dig into the character a bit more," the producer recalled. "What are Samus' aspirations, history, and fears? Nintendo appreciated the questions, but had never thought about them before, and ultimately didn't have a lot of answers. In the end, they felt uncomfortable with our team being the ones to propose those answers."

When you consider the mess of the "Mario" movie, you can easily understand Nintendo's trepidation. Still, it's easy to see how all the components of "Metroid" could come together in an incredibly satisfying movie.

Ever since John Woo's "Metroid" fell apart, there have been rumors that it could materialize under other creative leadership. Brie Larson has been a popular fancast for Samus for years, and she's encouraged fan speculation by expressing her own desire to make the movie. "District 9" director Neil Blomkamp has also expressed interest in the project as recently as 2023. And while Nintendo is still careful with its properties, the huge success of 2023's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" has kicked the door open a bit for other video game adaptations to follow.

"Metroid" co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto spoke favorably on the possibility of a film adaptation in a 2021 interview with CNET, saying, "Personally, I hope that it does become a reality someday." That said, an animated film seems more likely at this point for multiple reasons. For starters, it's the route where Nintendo has finally found cinematic success, and it's been a healthy space for video game adaptations in recent years, with animated shows like "Castlevania," "Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft," and "Arcane" having all proven popular on Netflix. The wild sci-fi worlds of "Metroid" also lend themselves to an animated project's stylistic sensibilities. That said, the upcoming "Legend of Zelda" film from director Wes Ball will be live-action, so anything is possible.

Whatever the form, it would still be great to see "Metroid" make the cinematic leap. "Prime" is back in the zeitgeist again with 2023's "Metroid Prime Remastered" earning rave reviews, and despite delays, "Prime 4" is on the way. We could be in the midst of another golden era for "Metroid," but only time will tell.